Our founders — being federalists, after all — believed in the rights of states and localities to make their own decisions. Today, it seems most Americans trust folks at the local level to know, much better than our federal overlords, what works for their communities. This makes common sense. And without question, it’s what our founders contemplated when they conceived and drafted the Constitution. (more)
State governments are beginning to choose one of two directions to dig out of deep budget deficits, and the resulting clash of visions between raising taxes or cutting spending has some conservatives salivating at the contrast between liberal and conservative philosophies of how to create economic growth. (more)
1.) Desperate Dems attempt to rebrand the Obamacare repeal effort — House Republicans politely declined to remove the word “killing” from the “Repealing the Job Killing Health Health Care Law Act,” so Democrats decided to come up with a phrase of their own. “The Patient’s Rights Repeal Act” is what they settled on. Incidentally, the GOP’s name is pretty accurate: In June, the Boston Globe reported that “a 2.3 percent excise tax on companies that supply medical devices like heart defibrillators and surgical tools to hospitals, health centers and ambulance services will cost medical device manufacturers an estimated $20 billion in new taxes over the next decade. And they say that will force them to lay off workers and curb the research and development of new medical tools.” A report released by Senators Coburn and Barasso in October found that the outlook was equally bad in other industries. Meanwhile, “patient’s rights” is pure hogwash–as any depressed owner of a now useless health savings account will tell you. (more)
The company chosen as the site for President Obama’s speech last Friday on the economy lost out in the tax deal reached by the president and Republicans last month when an energy efficiency tax credit was not extended. While visiting the manufacturing facility for Thompson Creek Window Company in Landover, Md., the president spoke about the state of the economy and unemployment. (more)
1.) Has the Great Walking Back of Promises (TM) begun? — House Speaker John Boehner has been in possession of Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s bejeweled gavel for less than 24 hours and already his party is modifying its promise to cut $100 billion in spending before the fiscal year is over. “A few House Republican aides admitted to TheDC that the party had slipped up in failing to correct the $100 billion figure – first thrown out in the ‘Pledge to America’ document released in late September – before this week,” writes Jon Ward. The more important goal, say Republicans like Rep. Paul Ryan, is to reduce spending to a level last seen in 2008, an apparent golden age of fiscal restraint. Also, says Ryan, the fiscal year began three months ago, which means “[w]e are halfway through the fiscal year right now,” and cutting $100 billion from the budget would be almost as difficult as figuring out how many months are in a year. Why did Republicans not walk back this promise on, say, September 23, 2010, the day after the Pledge was announced? Because Congress critters are terrified that the Tea Partiers will drizzle their coagulated blood on the Tree of Liberty. And metaphorically speaking, you know they will do it, too. (more)
The annual predictions derby has started again. I wanted to resist getting into that race this year, but when I went back to see how I did at the beginning of 2010, I was pleasantly surprised. Here are the predictions I made for 2010 in my January 3, 2010 commentary: (more)
At the close of the 111th Congress, America is deeply in the bog of Thomas Jefferson’s prophetic warning: “The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.” Unfortunately, the broken chains of the Constitution have failed to contain the federal government. (more)
Mark Thursday, Dec. 17, 2010, on your political calendar as the day twin cultures were defeated. The culture of spending, embraced by both parties, was repudiated decisively when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rose to pull the monster 1,924-page, 6,630-earmark omnibus spending bill. And the culture of class envy was repudiated with equal decisiveness when the House overwhelmingly passed the extension of the Bush tax cuts and defeated an amendment to raise the estate tax on large estates. (more)
For all the rancor coming out of the House Democratic Caucus, its members are once again missing the proverbial forest for the trees, and that is this: The Republicans will take over control of the 112th Congress in January with a 49-seat margin. I am not sure what Nancy Pelosi and others don’t get about this reality, but the truth of the matter is that if the Democrats “shellack” President Obama from his flank and cause this tax package to fail in conference (after the Senate votes), then they are in for a rude awakening come January 2011. (more)
Zicam is a product that has been marketed for some years now as being a cure for the common cold. The company claims that its product will stop a cold in its tracks — or, at least, lessen its severity and duration. The manufacturer recommends that you take Zicam at the first sign of a cold and continue taking it until the symptoms are gone. I tried it once and got sick as hell anyway; and they refunded my ten bucks when I complained. But the problem with this product is that there is no way to prove that it works; you can only state with certainty that it does NOT work if it doesn’t. (more)
Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer, you just gave Big Labor a $3.3 million tip. Not for exceptional service, mind you. Just for wearing the union label. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Slowly, painfully and reluctantly, congressional Democrats are slogging their way toward acceptance of President Barack Obama’s tax cut compromise, which would let rich and poor Americans keep Bush-era tax cuts that were scheduled to expire this month. (more)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Vice President
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2010 (more)
President Obama on Monday announced a “framework” compromise on extending the Bush tax cuts for two years, in exchange for a 13-month extension of unemployment benefits and a series of other tax extensions. (more)
The same organization that gave us the “lives touched” method for calculating stimulus job creation, the Department of Energy (DOE), has now stumbled upon a whole new way to increase employment. (more)
The U.S. House passed a bill Thursday to permanently extend the Bush-era tax cuts for individuals earning less than $200,000 and married couples earning less than $250,000 annually, but Republicans have vowed to keep any tax extension measure off the president’s desk that does not include tax cuts for all income brackets. (more)
There is a lot of talk in Washington these days about a “compromise” on extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, but two key points are being left out of the debate. First, this vote is about stopping a massive tax increase — it has nothing to do with cutting anyone’s taxes. The second point is even more important — this is NOT Congress’s money. These dollars belong to the American people who earned them. (more)
No one seems to know the full schedule for the Democrats’ lame-duck Congress, but we know the Democratic majority has not scheduled a vote to prevent all tax rates from rising. If there is no vote on the tax cut extensions for all Americans before the end of the year, taxpayers at every income level will see their paychecks reduced as significant tax increases go into effect. The impact won’t stop with paychecks — as the tax rates for savings and investment will rise and the death tax will return in full force. This is bad for American families, small businesses and the health of our economy as a whole. (more)
Here we go with the liberal rhetoric again. You’ve seen the Democrats whine that keeping the “Bush tax cuts” would stuff the pockets of the richest Americans, while doing nothing to help the middle class. But that simply isn’t the truth. (more)
Republicans in the House Thursday blocked a bill that would have extended jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed beyond the holiday season. (more)
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